Customer Reviews

Kingdom Of Moonlight

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Different in that the author invents an island country, but I liked Royce and Kassandra. I was surprised to see any negative reviews -- this was not the least bit boring! It was well-written, exciting and the romance developed nicely enough. I recommend you read Dream Island first because Kingdom of Moonlight book mentions characters from the previous book. It was very enjoyable to see Alex and Joanna again and share some of their lives. I have read hundreds of romance novels and this was one of the better ones. I love an intelligent author.

In 1812, England worries about possible wars with Napoleon and the former colonies. In London, though their siblings have been married for a year and his sister is pregnant, Lord Royce Hawkforte and Princess Kassandra of Akora meet for the first time under happier circumstances.

Just after Joanna gives birth, Royce kisses Kassandra, leaving both stunned by their reaction. Kassandra informs Royce she sees multiple futures, but the individual has opportunities to change the most likely path that might occur. Because of further unrest, Kassandra's other brother Atreus orders her to come home. Alex puts his sister, his wife, and his daughter on an Akoran ship accompanied by Royce.

As Royce overcomes his bad memories of his imprisonment on Akora, he and Kassandra fall in love. However, the rebels continue to cause havoc insisting on a return to tradition while another group of protesters wants a more open government. This leaves little room for Royce and Kassandra to explore a future together as that seems like the least likely path for what is good for Akora and England.

Though Akora seems too perfect as a nineteenth century Utopian modernization of Ancient Athens, KINGDOM OF MOONLIGHT is an unusual yet stimulating Regency romantic suspense that will send new readers seeking DREAM ISLAND, the first book in the trilogy. The story line absorbs the full attention of the audience as the delightful lead couple struggles between love and duty. Fans who enjoy a different type of historical story will want to read Josie Litton's strong entry that daringly refreshes the sub-genre as few books do.

Harriet Klausner

If you have read Josie Litton's previous book DREAM ISLAND, you will be thrilled to read about Royce and Kassandra in this book. This was a great relaxing read and a wonderful addition to the series. This book is the second in a trilogy, the first was DREAM ISLAND, the third book will be out this fall. If you haven't read the first book, this one can stand alone, but you might as well get the first one also because you are going to want to read it as well.

I read this years ago in paperback. I've slowly been replacing my favorites on the Kindle. It's nice to re-read those books that I got rid of years ago at yard sales!

The first book of the trilogy is DREAM ISLAND.(GOOD BOOK) KINGDOM OF MOONLIGHT is the second book.(GOOD BOOK) CASTLES IN THE MIST is the third book. (GOOD BOOK)

Last in series. Left me wanting to know more about the characters. Seemed incomplete

I'll say up front that I don't tend to like romances, and it takes a very well written one to hold my interest. This one was not, and I found myself skimming sections and reading as fast as I can just to get it over with (having an unfortunate compulsion to finish books I start, and having started this one because it was the only one on hand when I desperately wanted something to read). That is my fault and not the author's. I gave this review one star more than I wanted to, to offset my genre prejudice.

Apart from my lack of appreciation for romances, this one was quite irritating because the author couldn't seem to make up her mind whose perspective she was representing. It's one thing to have the habit (and she does) of spelling out everything a character is thinking or feeling. It's another thing to have the narration be at times too descriptive of all circumstances, implications and reasons for a character's thoughts or actions (it's called the "omniscient" viewpoint and is a mark of unprofessionalism). But the most maddening point is that the author switchs between major character's viewpoints literally within the same paragraph, as if she couldn't decide whose head she wanted to be inside. And as to heads the reader would want to be inside, I couldn't bear any of them. Apart from some slightly witty reparte between them towards the beginning of the book, the characters were so flat and one-dimensional they held no interest for me.

Advice to writers: 1. Hint or allude to character thoughts/feelings through their words and actions rather than through reading their minds. Say nothing about what's inside their heads at all rather than explain too much. 2. Give the reader some credit for intelligence and imagination -- don't fall into the trap of spelling everything out for them in the narration. It's insulting and boring. 3. If you want to write in multiple viewpoints -- and that can be a very effective tool when used well -- make some kind of narrative break at that view shift. Start a new chapter or a new section. And DON'T forget numbers 1 and 2 above when you do.

This is the kind of guidance anyone who has taken an undergraduate level creative writing class learns early on.

Don't waste your time. I had the hardest time picking up this book. Usually I can read a book in 8 hours and this one was so boring I actually did some housework. I just couldn't finish it which is a first for me.

I absolutley loved Litton's first two books and would give them each 4 stars so I was definetly disapointed in this book. The plot was flat, the hero boring, and the heroine to serious. This book had promise because of the setting, but it ended up being modeled into a unrealistic perfect Greek utopian society. My advice is save your money and but her first books.

Having read (and enjoyed) all of Ms. Litton's other books, I was looking forward to this latest effort. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a disappointment. I loved "Dream Island" where we first met Alex's sister Kassandra and Joanna's brother Royce but I did not particularly care for Royce's character so I suppose I should have known. If you read "Believe in Me" you might think of Royce as a less likable version of Hawk - autocratic, authoritarian, with little sense of humor. And though Kassandra had the potential to lighten him up, the circumstances in the book throw her into such serious situations that we see little of the sprite Kassandra may have appeared at the beginning of the book and in "Dream Island". She is weighed down by an tragic vision of her future that she unswervingly believes is inevitable and inescapable, though when her visions are of others' futures, it is only "one possible path of many" and so not definite. Heh?

And there is little chemistry or passion between these characters. I was not sure what attracted them to one another. I really had to force myself to stick with this book and that's something I have never had to do with any of the author's other books. It almost seemed that this book existed mainly to advance the story of Akora and to set up the story for the next book "Castles in the Mist" about Alex and Kassandra's half brother Atreus (which, from the exerpt looks more promising than this one). The book concentrates too much on the situation on Akora - the rebels that may or may not be behind the unrest, on Kassandra's stepping in as Vanax (leader of Akora) while Atreus is in a coma after an assasination attempt - to the detriment of the love story between the two main characters.

I will, however, continue my faith in the author and look forward to the last book in the trilogy, Atreus' story.